Thursday, March 28, 2024

Smith & Gerhart Easter Ad – March 23, 1951


Smith & Gerhart
is another iconic Downtown Lorain business, well-remembered by the over-60 Lorain crowd. It was one of the few firms that lasted almost a hundred years, opening in 1893 (as the Boston Store) and closing in 1980.

It was one of the many stores that Mom occasionally visited during our weekly Saturday morning trips downtown (along with Kline's and the dime stores).

One of my best friends in high school got a job as a security guard at Smith & Gerhart when we were seniors. I remember visiting him there in the alley behind the store a few times while he was working.

Anyway, above is the Easter-themed ad for Smith & Gerhart that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 23, 1951 (when the holiday was even earlier than this year's). I like that large bunny clip art (although he has been chopped in half by the Journal art department, like so many other ads).

I'm not sure if I buy the premise of the ad – Easter Gift Suggestions – but Smith & G was hoping Lorainites did. And there's something for everyone; tissue faille blousettes, handbags, pearl chokers for Mom; straw bags for kiddies and teen-agers; dress gloves for the kiddies; and ties and socks (sigh) for dear old Dad.

But who was Mrs. Steven, mentioned in the ad as the name behind the chocolate Easter eggs? Was she a Lorain housewife who lived on Reid Avenue and cranked out chocolates in her kitchen?

Nope. As noted on the Roadshow Collectibles website, ""Julia C. Krafft, 98, the founder of Steven Candy Kitchens Inc., was a farm wife in 1921 when she started the very successful, nationwide firm that manufactured and distributed her Mrs. Steven's Candies. 

Mrs. Steven's Candies proved a very popular item in Chicago for several generations. Her three-pound box that sold for a dollar made it possible during the Depression for people with marginal incomes to purchase a quality box of chocolates. 

"Her candy eventually sold through 22 retail stores and 800 outlets across the country. Mrs Krafft was born on a farm near Wayne, growing up in a log cabin there. After grammar school, she attended Ellis Business College in Elgin. After working for a while as an office manager at a threadwork in Elgin, she married Leslie Steven and lived on a farm. They were later divorced, but she kept the name for her candy. 

"Looking for a second income to help out, she followed a friend's advice and started making fudge. She found an outlet, a drugstore in the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad station and began selling as much candy as she could make. She left the farm, and with $1,000 in capital set up her business in Chicago, selling candy out of a drugstore in the Chicago & North Western station. Her business and cooking abilities came together in the company that continued to expand until she sold the company in 1956."


Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Faroh's Easter Ad – March 21, 1972

For many of us that are getting up in years, it's hard to imagine growing up in Lorain and celebrating Easter without candy from Faroh's. The company's distinctive chocolates, packaged and labeled with the well-remembered candy cane logo, was an integral component in many an Easter basket.

Anyone who visited the main showroom at the Henderson Drive location in Lorain will never forget the unbelievable selection of goodies.

Above is an almost full-page ad from the company's heyday that ran in the Journal back on March 21, 1972. It lists many of the firm's signature products, such as its delicious cream eggs.

Faroh's Finest Chocolates are still available today at Broadway Boutique and Treats on the first floor of the Ariel Broadway Hotel. To my taste, it's not quite the same as I grew up with – but at least the brand is still around in the 2000's.

****

So what is your favorite Easter candy?

Growing up, I was never a fan of the Fruit & Nut eggs. (My siblings and I weren't exactly nuts about nuts.) But I liked just about anything else, especially white chocolate. The Russell Stover cream eggs were pretty good too.

These days, as I slowly proceed into dotage, I find that I like Peeps® the best. I've eaten several cartons of the Cotton Candy Flavored variety already. They're light, and satisfy my sugary cravings. 

And the Party Cake ain't bad either!

I suppose before Easter has passed, I'll have to try some of the (*yawn*) original yellow Peeps®.

I like these things too (below). They're like Nestlé Crunch bars in the shape of a rabbit. And they're cheap!






Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Januzzi's Easter Ad – March 26, 1954

Januzzi's
is one of those iconic Lorain businesses that longtime residents of the city, especially Baby Boomers, remember fondly. 

Above is an Easter-themed ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 26, 1954. I like the chicken and her cute chicks holding hands wings, a nice alternative to the omnipresent rabbits in Easter ads.

I've mentioned before that we shopped at all the shoes stores in the area, including those at Midway Mall, O'Neil – Sheffield Center, Pic-way in South Lorain and Januzzi's.

How long had Januzzi's been around? An article in the October 8, 1980 Journal noted, "Tomorrow marks the 55th year in business for Enrico Januzzi, founder of the Januzzi chain of shoe stores in Lorain and Elyria. Now 79 years young, he began in 1925 – before Lindberg crossed the Atlantic – by repairing shoes in the basement of his home at 506 W. 28th St., Lorain. He also worked in the then National Tube plant. He moved the business to Broadway and 29th in 1933 and in 1949 began selling new shoes. 

"Today there are three generations of Januzzis managing this family business.

"Today there are Januzzi stores on Broad Street in Elyria, in the Oakwood Shopping Center and the main "Professional Shoe Fitting" headquarters at 26th and Broadway, a location chosen in 1940."

The business eventually moved out to the Sheffield Center on Route 254 in 1981, becoming Januzzi's Select-A-Shoe with name brand footwear at budget prices, a "rack store with customers waiting on themselves," according to Carmen Januzzi at the time.

Today, the Januzzi brand lives on in Amherst at Januzzi's Footwear Solutions.

The former Januzzi's store on Broadway today

Monday, March 25, 2024

Midway Mall Easter Ad – March 16, 1972


Well, it's Easter week – so longtime readers know that means it's time for my traditional Easter parade of vintage ads.

First up is this attractive, full-page ad for Midway Mall heralding the appearance of the Easter Bunny that ran in the Journal back on March 16, 1972. I really like the artwork of the Easter Bunny casually leaning against a basket the size of the one in Lakeview Park (although an egg-rattling earthquake is seemingly in progress).

I don't recall Mom and Dad ever taking my siblings and me to see the Easter Bunny in a department store. In fact, I don't think I ever had a clear image in my mind what a rabbit who delivered Russell Stover and Faroh's Candy, as well as hard-boiled eggs, would look like. Was he six feet 3 and 1/2 inches tall like Harvey in the movie of the same name? Or was he just a little bigger than your average garden variety rabbit? 

Plus, the Easter Bunny didn't bring toys, so there wasn't any pressing reason to visit him before the holiday. I do recall that my parents did put little wind-up toys in our baskets one year.  

Anyway, over the weekend I had to stop at PetSmart across the way from Midway Mall. It was pretty depressing looking over at the now almost empty shopping complex that's slowly morphing into something else entirely. 

For so many years in the late 60s and entire 1970s, Midway Mall truly was the shopping and entertainment hub of Lorain and Elyria, hosting a variety of special events, shows, school exhibits and performances. There's a lot of sentimental memories there for locals. It's hard to imagine that today's youth will look back decades from now with the same kind of affection for shopping meccas like Crocker Park or Legacy Village (which are designed to look like Downtowns) that we have for Midway Mall. 

Friday, March 22, 2024

Gartner's New Supper Club Grand Opening – March 23, 1954

Gartner's Inn, located near the Elyria – North Ridgeville border on U. S. 20 (Center Ridge), has showed up on this blog as a topic a few times.

It seems to have been around since the early 1940s at the very least, judging by online newspaper mentions. Located 'out in the country' back then, it seemed to have been – not unlike Timbers Nite Club – a magnet for trouble and various violations.

Perhaps that's why the inn seemed to be trying to rehabilitate its image a few times. A 1947 New Year's Eve ad promoted the 'new' Gartner's Inn. And in March 1954, Gartner's Inn changed its name to Gartner's Supper Club. Here's the March 23, 1954 nearly full-page ad making the announcement. Note entertainer Lee Sullivan was the headliner.

So what's a supper club?

It seems to have been a Wisconsin thing that perhaps spread to other parts of the country. A supper club is more or less a restaurant. but a little more exclusive and intimate, with limited seating and a fixed menu. There was also more emphasis on ambiance.
Perhaps Gartner's was just trying something new to see if it worked. Nevertheless, within a few years ads for the business seemed to be unable to decide if it wanted to be called a supper club, an inn or a lounge bar. 
Here's a smaller ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on February 26, 1954, prior to the official Grand Opening in March.
By the early 1960s, it was back to being Gartner's Inn before changing to Porter House around 1963.

It was the Porter House for several years until it became Tiffany's Steak House and Brew in the early 1970s – continuing under that name until around 1996.
After a year with no directory listing, the address became the home of Lite Rock Cafe beginning in the 1998 book. After that, the address was host to a variety of businesses, some at the same time, including Home Plate CafeRoca Bar & GrillGuys-N-Dolls, the Country Ridge, and Crissy's Lounge


Today, it is unclear if Indigo Salon still occupies part of the building.




Thursday, March 21, 2024

LaGana Fish Article – March 23, 1954

Easter is coming up quick, so that means fewer Lenten fish fries are left (although many organizations hold fish fries all year long).

Does anyone still fry fish at home? I'm guessing that most people prefer to go to a fish fry and enjoy the social aspect of it, rather than make a mess in their kitchen at home.

But seventy years ago, it seems that cooking fish at home was possibly the norm in Lorain – judging by this article that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 24, 1954.

"Tangy, fresh-caught Lake Erie fish have been heading for Lorain Lenten tables all this week, with boatloads of perch, pickerel and pike pouring over lakefront docks.

"Veteran city fisherman Pete LaGana produced more than a half-ton of fish – almost 90 percent perch – during each of the first two days this week, a check showed.

"A rush of Lorain housewives with families hungry for fresh-caught finny dinner grabbed up the catch "on order" even before it hit the docks, Mrs. LaGana said.

"The scarcity so far of pickerel is due to uncertain weather on the lake in early spring, Mrs. LaGana stated. With more than $6,000 worth of nets in the water now, she pointed out, the fishermen hesitate to lay the even more expensive pickerel and pike nets. A sudden windstorm, for which Lake Erie is notorious, could cost LaGana his entire investment.

"Daily trips start in the pre-dawn dark, with the fishing boats hitting the docks at about 2 p. m.

"The fish are in Broadway stores by 3 p. m. and usually all have passed over the counter by 6 p. m."

How did they ever clean all those fish?

The article explained, "Workmen in the processing plant in the rear of the store were busy early today boning and scaling Tuesday's catch. Iced immediately, the finny morsels are cleaned and packed largely by machine."

I'm sure most longtime Lorainites bought fish or some other seafood at LaGana's store on Broadway at some point in their lives. I remember being sent there by Mom to pick up fish. Later, Dad caught all the perch and walleye we could eat (two of his fishermen friends owned boats). Dad used to clean them himself, later he would take them to a fish-cleaning place around W. 21st and Leavitt.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Fisher Foods Stokely Ad – March 18, 1954

Advertising mascots of the past are one of my specialities here on the blog, with such old friends as Reddy Kilowatt, Speedy Gas Flame and Willing Water making regular appearances. National advertising mascots such as Sparky the Fire Dog, Smokey Bear, Tony the Tiger, and Sugar Bear also show up, since they were featured in ads in the Journal.

But every once in a while, I see a mascot that is completely new to me – like the guy in the ad above for Fisher Foods promoting a sale on Stokely products. The full page ad appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 18, 1954.

Here's a closer look at him. Who is he – a shirttail cousin to 'Pop' of Rice Krispies fame?

No, his name is Easy (good thing he's a guy mascot) and he symbolizes the 'Easy Does It' philosophy of Stokely and its food preparation convenience. He seems to have first appeared in the late 1940s.

Here's Easy in a short clip from a 1948 Stokely Van Camp promotional film (and here's the link to the whole film). 
One online blogger identified Easy's voice as voice artist Dick Beals, who also did Speedy Alka-Seltzer and various voices for animation studios.
Easy didn't seem to be utilized very much, and it's not very, uh, easy to find him in 1950s ads. Magazine ads rarely featured him. Here's one that did, for Stokely Van Camp's Pork & Beans.
However long Easy's reign was as a symbol of Stokely, he was apparently well-known enough to be immortalized as a ceramic advertising figure.

By the 1960s, Easy seems to have been retired. Here's hoping the little guy is 'taking it easy" in the Retired Ad Mascot Hall of Fame.